Anon conflates the desire for a more involved and expanded social life with just having sex, thereby perfectly explaining their lack of a more involved and expanded social life.
That’s definitely a decent chunk of what people in the media who talk about the ‘male loneliness epidemic’ are talking about, though. I don’t think I’ve read a single article about it that doesn’t devote time to how little sex young men allegedly aren’t having.
Maybe he just wants to hang out with the boys and fuck! Didn’t think about that did ya?
Yea everyone knows as soon as you have sex once you never feel lonely again.
Seems like a lot of incels really believe it though
Indeed, which may actually be the source of their problems, or at least one of them.
Yeah when they fixate on sex it generally results in a bunch of behaviors and personality traits that make them unpleasant to be around and often make other people (particularly women) dislike or even fear the idea of sex with them.
I also honestly think a lot of it comes down to homophobia. I think there’s a lot of closeted or Kinsey 3+ bi men that are prevented from being happy with a male partner and even more importantly it keeps straight men from pursuing platonically fulfilling emotional intimacy from other men. I often deal with sexual transference behaviors out of male patients (when I try to help them emotionally they develop sexual attraction) and it can be difficult to both find a male staff member to model appropriate nonsexual emotional intimacy to them and to get the patient to accept the healthier experience / teaching.
TLDR there’s a lot of things I would like to do to help solve the male loneliness epidemic because it’s a very real thing but I’m AFAB and NB at best and 90% of the work needs to be done by men helping other men, so I’m functionally helpless to do so.
In my experience (as in my classmates(, you couldn’t be more right.
The irony is that there’s a chance it might be true.
Sex doesn’t necessarily mean very much. But, they’ve convinced themselves it’s massively important. Being a virgin defines them, and it’s proof that their life is a failure. If they can lose their virginity, they might be able to convince themselves that they’re now in a new category. If they can get away from the various toxic influences, maybe they can become more likeable people, and be less lonely as a result.
This entire post is precisely the problem. The fact that everyone here is conflating sex with mental health support is the reason why men’s mental health isn’t being taken seriously.
Men are not socialized to, and even actively discouraged from being emotionally vulnerable with each other.
We won’t need men doing more fucking, we need men to sit down together and talk about their depression, and we need other men to be supportive and not downplay these conversations with sexist or homophobic slurs.
Exactly what I interpreted from this too. Posting a bunch of stats on sex and marriage as if they’re a remedy for loneliness ignores the fact that people absolutely can feel lonely while having both.
Men do absolutely need to be better with each other but women do perpetuate this also.
The modern concept of masculinity is completely broken. Long ago it used to be about being a protector, now it’s about anger, dominance, power, emotional dysregulation, resource hoarding (most of which provide little benefit to society at large).
A co-worker keept telling me he knows what’s wrong with me and that I just need to fuck. I so wanted to strangle him, because I’d imagine that would make you less focused.
Another keeps insisting I grab (a married co-worker) by the pussy.
those are co-workers though, everyone has stupid co-workers. It’s like that whole “you can’t choose your family” thing but corporatized.
we need men to sit down together and talk about their depression
I have a friend who hosts a men’s support group through his Brazilian Jujitsu Dojo. And I think the fact that this club exists is great for everyone involved. But holy shit is it depressing to visit a club full of guys who are just harping on their depression.
Like, we all need a time and a place to unload. But we do also need a time and a place to have some fun. The best thing for my depression, getting out of college, was hanging with people my age and doing social activities together. BBQs, dance halls, board game nights, house parties, concerts and clubs - all great for relaxing and socializing.
we need other men to be supportive and not downplay these conversations with sexist or homophobic slurs
Also nice when people can feel safe to joke and laugh with each other.
Yeah, totally! Getting my dick wet is precisely the kind of emotional and intellectual connection I’m missing! The penis is my data transfer cable.
The penis is my data transfer cable.
That could almost be a CAKE lyric
It could give new meaning to the phrase, “you’ve got male!”
[USB Connection sound]
Remember to safely unmount
You mean pull out just after the handshake packets get sent?
Maybe Avatar was onto something….
Well, crap… don’t have nearly enough hair for that…
How does having sex once same as not being lonely? Sure I am lonely and virgin. But, I could just as easily be not virgin and still lonely AF.
Yea, I would imagine a 30-40 yo virgin may end up getting a sex worker. having sex with a sex worker doesn’t really reduce loneliness.
Some just gotta have sex before they can acknowlege that it might not be all their life is missing. Teenage hormones are so over-the-top, its a wonder so many of these men live long enough to voice their beliefs from the older age brackets.
- That is sex. You can have all the sex you want and still be lonely.
- Those stats are probably the “we asked some people” kind which means everyone who had their first relationship at 24 will say that “oh yeah technically i was with that random girl in grade school so you know what lets say its 12”
She went to a different school you wouldn’t know her
Shit. I’ve had sex that made me feel even more alone than before.
(Had to figure out how to word that.)
With modern contraceptive technology we can have sex thats completely meaningless, where both parties are trying to achieve a deeper connection (to something, not even necessarily to each other) and misguidedly hope it can be achieved through a simple release. Its almost dystopian.
It doesn’t have to be meaningless. It’s perfectly meaningful to have innocent fun with somebody else.
Sure but I’d argue if both parties are going in openly with that intention that is a type of connection on its own.
“Male loneliness epidemic” is about male friendships more than anything no?
That’s definitely one sense, and the one that’s actually an issue. But I’ve read enough headlines and yt subject lines to pick up on there also being some muddying of the waters with romantic female companionship. Or rather lack thereof as being a key part of the crisis.
“premarital sex” also known as sex
yeah but it was a one night stand so you know it made them feel extra less lonely
16.8? jesus.
I wanna see some breakdowns of these stats by country and socioeconomic factors
Imo sounds about right, people were getting mighty horny around that time and started having sex. Few years earlier even
Is it usually earlier in the US? Sounds a bit on the high side for where I live too.
Those stats cannot be right.
Yup. the sexual loneliness epidemic is easing up, because we’re all fighting back to ‘normal’. But ask most men this simple question: how many non-sexual friends do you have in your life that you communicate with more than once a week?
i think a simple “what do you feel right now” would stump half the population.
If they dont answer with the predifined “fine”
The predifined “fine” is either a real “i don’t know “ or “it’s too socially dangerous for me to say what I really feel “ imho
Or even “I think it would be nice to talk to you in more detail, but it’s really difficult to summarize my entire mental state in a short sentence, so to avoid you and I the headache, I’m just gonna say fine.”
Is it normal to talk to friends more than once a week? That seems like a strange standard imo. Even my besties and I touch base maybe once or twice a month at most, and see eachother once every 4 to 6 months.
That sounds normal to me, but it’s worth noting that when we were under Covid lockdown, I didn’t understand how so many people freaked out about it. I’ve always been sucky at social interactions and pretty much always felt lonely as a baseline. It’s like I’d been training for lockdown my entire life. Seeing others lose their minds trying to live the way I’ve always lived was quite awkward.
Which means for many people, your/my standards for social contact are way too infrequent. I don’t know what an average measurement would be, but it’s clear that our “normal” can’t be most people’s “normal.”
Just to be clear, there is a loneliness epidemic: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf
In the scientific literature, I found confirmation of what I was hearing. In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation.
Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,4 and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.
Dunking on incels who equate loneliness with a lack of sex and ascribing the “male loneliness epidemic” to being a meme made up by chronically online social media users is a mistake.
Everyone is experiencing loneliness.
Just because women suffer in silence while some men turn to antisocial behavior doesn’t mean that this is a problem that’s fabricated or only affecting men.
If you’re resistant to believing that this is a real problem because the people making noise about it on social media are primarily men then you’re ignoring reality.
Is that an Andrew Tate wojak?
That’s it. I knew it looked vaguely familiar and couldn’t figure out why
“3.3% of men are virgin by age 30”
Cool! I am special
look ma’! I’m special!
look ma’! I’m special!
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